Former bank teller sentenced to prison

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - A former Kansas bank teller has been sentenced to four years and three months in prison for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The U.S. attorney's office says in a news release that 48-year-old Denise Christy was sentenced Friday for one count of embezzlement and six counts each of making false bank entries, filing false tax returns and money laundering. She was ordered to pay more than $850,000 in restitution.

Prosecutors say that when auditors found that $700,000 was missing from the vault of the Burlington branch of Central National Bank, Christy falsely said the money had been shipped to the Federal Reserve.

Christy also falsified bank records to cover up the embezzlement and spent more than $77,000 in embezzled funds to pay off loans from another bank.